Live Chat Software: AI Market Discovery Index

Benchmark Summary

Tidio led the Live Chat Software benchmark in August 2026 with valid recommendation coverage of 67.7%, edging out tawk.to at 63.3%. The largest coverage increase belonged to LiveChat (Text S.A. (formerly LiveChat Software S.A.), which rose from 11.2% in July 2026 to 40.2% in August 2026. There was no significant decline this month, with all other tracked brands remaining within normal month-to-month variation.

LiveChat's single-month move from 11.2% to 40.2% is the only movement beyond normal variation in the two-month series. The benchmark began with 800 prompt-surface observations in each month and produced 371 qualified observations in August 2026 after qualification.

Current Benchmark at a Glance

Qualified surface breadth counts the canonical AI surface families with at least one qualified observation among ChatGPT, Copilot, Gemini, Perplexity, AI Overviews, and AI Mode. The benchmark maintained breadth across all six families in both months.

For the strategic interpretation of this benchmark, read CiteWorks Studio's analysis of How AI Search Is Recommending Live Chat Software

Research Scope and Qualification

The public benchmark is narrower than the raw collection universe by design. Brand-level percentages use the qualified observations as the public denominator, not the raw collection.

Each brand-level percentage in the standings below is calculated against these qualified observations, not against the raw collection total.

AI Market Discovery Methodology

Current Brand Standings

How to Read the Standings

Presence rate is the share of qualified observations where a brand is mentioned at all, regardless of whether it is recommended. Valid recommendation coverage is the share of qualified observations where a brand appears in a valid recommendation shortlist. Top-three rate is the share where a brand appears among the top three recommended options. Rank-one rate is the share where a brand is the first recommendation. Net sentiment measures the balance of positive versus negative mentions among all mentions of a brand, and reflects the tone of benchmark answers rather than customer satisfaction or reviews.

For formulas and denominator rules, see AI Market Discovery Metric Definitions.

Recommendation Coverage Movement

Notable secondary moves between July and August 2026 include Crisp's top-three rate rising from 9.5% to 15.4% and HubSpot Live Chat's top-three rate rising from 9.5% to 17.0%. The primary coverage metric for both brands remained within normal month-to-month variation.

Largest Increase: LiveChat (Text S.A. (formerly LiveChat Software S.A.)

LiveChat rose from 11.2% valid recommendation coverage in July 2026 to 40.2% in August 2026, an increase of 29.0 percentage points and the only movement classified as beyond normal variation this month. The brand's presence rate rose from 18.1% to 53.4%, its top-three rate climbed from 7.7% to 34.2%, and its rank-one rate moved from 4.3% to 21.0% over the same period.

Category Leader: Tidio

Tidio remained the category leader with valid recommendation coverage of 67.7% in August 2026, effectively flat against 67.9% in July 2026. tawk.to held second place at 63.3% in August 2026, up from 63.0% in July 2026.

Recommendation Placement Snapshot

Coverage alone does not show how prominently a brand is recommended. Top-three and rank-one rates reveal placement quality within the shortlists where a brand appears, and the two leaders show different profiles.

Although Tidio holds a small lead in coverage, tawk.to achieves more than twice the rank-one rate, with 21.8% in August 2026 versus Tidio's 10.2%. Close coverage can still hide different first-position rates.

Buyer-Intent Distribution

All qualified observations in both months fell into the Brand Recommendation class, where the prompt asks for a brand or product recommendation.

The current public series measures Brand Recommendation discovery and does not yet contain qualified observations in the Pricing & Value or Multi-Brand Comparison classes.

Historical Measurement Record

New measurements are added to the same report.

Evidence and Source Layer

The benchmark is built from prompt-level observations that retain the query, AI/search surface, answer, brand outcome, recommendation placement, sentiment, and where exposed, citations or attributable evidence sources. Source presence is evidence about the information environment. It is not automatically proof that the source caused the recommendation.

Scope Boundaries

This public benchmark does not measure market share, attributable sales, every possible AI response, organic-search ranking, social mention volume, private or sponsored channels, or causality from a metric movement alone. The benchmark records the change. It does not, by itself, establish why the change occurred.

About This Benchmark

The LLM Authority Index AI Market Discovery Index tracks how often and how prominently brands appear in AI-generated recommendations across six canonical AI surface families. It is a neutral industry benchmark built from prompt-level observations.

• AI Market Discovery Methodology
• AI Market Discovery Metric Definitions
• AI Market Discovery Research Standards
• Modeled AI Authority Value

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